The Piano Teacher

Chapter 1

Charlotte paused a moment, thoughtful. She had such a depressing outlook on this whole venture since her father sent her out. Though he did it out of love and hope that the countryside would improve her health, she couldn't help but be bitter about it, leaving home. But now she had a more positive thought. "Is it a beautiful place? Where the cabin is?"

"I'd say so, yes. The cabin's little ways out of Walnut Grove, so we'll get plenty of peace and quiet. You can hear the birds for once instead of a hundred wagons clattering in the street right outside your window. It's atop a hill, so you can see all around, and the finest prairie winds blow through there. I don't always agree with your father, but I do say I believe living in a place like that for some time will take you out of your usual spells."

"And what if nothing changes?" Charlotte inquired. "What if I get another fever, and another, just like in Minneapolis?"

"Then I'll have to take you to the dern Rocky Mountains myself," Samuel said with a laugh. "I been there, and the air's as pure as the snow itself. But I reckon our little cabin on the hill outside of Walnut Grove will do you just fine." He saw the worry and doubt in her face and took her hand. "I guarantee there'll be a change in you yet, Charlie. Just got to give it all a chance. Take your time to rest, meet some new folks, eat some good old farm food. And you got your old Uncle Samuel here to pester you all the while, so what have you got to mope about?"

She smiled and felt some hope at his words, but she still felt immense sadness in her. She felt that by coming here, to this little down in the middle of nowhere, her life was truly over.

The earth around her was as bright as spun gold, and the sky was a deeper blue than she had ever seen, swirling with birds that pierced the air like bullets, but it still felt like the end of everything for her. The end of her concerts, the end of charging audiences with joy as she played the piano like few could.

Performing on the piano had been the only thing she could do. Her only talent. Now it seemed that was taken from her too. She wanted nothing more than to dig herself a hole and lie down in it forever. It took all her might to keep from crying because she knew how it would upset her uncle. So, she bit her lip and gave Samuel a little smile before setting her eyes on that bright and shining horizon, rippling with grass.

After another hour, her eyelids dropped, and she fell into a half-slumber. It seemed impossible to sleep when the buckboard's seats were so hard, the terrain was so bumpy, and the wheels were so loud. But she did get a bit of rest for a few minutes. Samuel was glad about that. He knew the young lady was weak, perhaps weaker than she had ever been.

He remembered her in her feverish state one week ago. Her small body in her white nightgown tucked away in her bed in the dark, only a sliver of grey, cloudy light peaking through her heavy bedroom curtains. He had arrived at once as soon as her father, James, wrote him about her condition. At a certain point, it was impossible to wake her. 

She seemed dead, if not for the thick beads of sweat that clung to her and the intense heat that radiated from her skin. Samuel prayed hard for the Lord not to take her, and it seemed the Lord listened.

He still worried about her, even when she seemed smiley and a bit stronger. Her spells took her so frequently and so intensely, ever since she was a child, that it seemed impossible that she would ever lead a long life, let alone a healthy life.

But he did believe that going out to the country as his brother had recommended would do her plenty of good. He could remember taking her out on horse rides when she was little, out to the outskirts of the city, and how much she had enjoyed it. She's been cooped up in the city for too long, he thought.

He never felt his best when trapped under a city's heavy atmosphere either, though he had never truly been sick a day in his life. He would bet on his own mother's grave that some country life would help Charlie, at least a little, and he knew for a fact that the townspeople were kind and welcoming. That ought to help her relax a bit and crawl back out of her shell.